MEN OF SCIENCE AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. 25 



often prove to be erroneous in the end, resulting in a diminu- 

 tion of that confidence which the public is, on the whole, inclined 

 to place in the dictum of science. 



Examples of this condition of things are by no means want- 

 ing, and they are not confined, as might at first be assumed, to the 

 lower ranks of science. A distinguished botanist is consulted and 

 advises concerning the location of the natural-gas field ; a math- 

 ematician advises a company in which he is a stockholder in re- 

 gard to the best locality for boring for oil ; and a celebrated biol- 

 ogist examines and makes public report upon a much-talked-of 

 invention in which the principles of physics and engineering are 

 alone involved. 



In these and many other instances which might be related, the 

 motives of those concerned, at least on one side of the transaction, 

 can not be questioned, but certainly their judgment is open to 

 criticism ; and the outcome of it all is that the confidence of the 

 people in scientific methods and results is weakened. Fifty years 

 ago or a hundred years ago, there was good reason for much of 

 this sort of thing. Specialization was neither as possible nor as 

 necessary as now ; the sparseness of the population of the country, 

 the absence of centers of learning and scientific research, the ob- 

 stacles in the way of easy and rapid communication between dif- 

 ferent parts of the country all these and other circumstances 

 contributed to the possibility of a Franklin, who wrote and wrote 

 well upon nearly all subjects of human thought ; whose advice 

 was sought and given in matters relating to all departments of 

 science, literature, and art. Combining in an extraordinary de- 

 gree the power of profound research with a singularly simple and 

 clear style in composition, together with a modesty which is 

 nearly always characteristic of the genuine student of nature, he 

 wisely ventured further than most men would dare to-day in the 

 range of topics concerning which he spoke with authority. 



But at the present time and under existing conditions there is 

 little excuse for unsupported assumption of knowledge by men of 

 science ; and, fortunately, the danger of humiliating exposure is 

 correspondingly great. The specialist is everywhere within easy 

 reach, and the expression of opinions concerning things of which 

 one knows but little is equally prejudicial to the interests of sci- 

 ence and society. 



The scientific man should also be at least reasonably free from 

 egotism in matters relating to his own specialty, and particularly 

 in reference to his own authority and attainments therein. In 

 controversy he has the advantage over most disputants in that he 

 can usually call to his support an unerring and incontrovertible 

 witness. A well-conducted experiment or an exhaustive investi- 

 gation carried out with scrupulous honesty, deservedly carries 



